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Scoring an invite to the U.S. national junior team’s camp is nothing new to Johnny Gaudreau.

It’s the next step that the Calgary Flames prospect is looking to make.

Gaudreau, one of three Flames hopefuls chosen to attend this year’s camp, was a late cut from last year’s squad. So it’s hard to believe he won’t be part of the American team to go to world juniors later this month in Ufa, Russia.

“I thought it was a little bit of farce he didn’t make last year’s team, particularly when I saw the team,” said Flames assistant GM of player personnel Jonn Weisbrod. “I couldn’t believe they kept him off it.”

Gaudreau, the Boston College dynamo sophomore drafted 104th overall by the Flames in 2011, admits he has extra motivation this time around, but he won’t go as far as to say he intends to prove to Hockey USA officials they made a mistake a year ago.

“It’s all about this year, and we’ll see how this tournament goes. Hopefully, we play well,” said the 19-year-old from New Jersey.

Gaudreau has staked an early claim to being a Hobey Baker Award candidate, as the NCAA’s top hockey player, with 10 goals and 21 points in 13 outings this season. It’s a big jump from the point-per-game pace he had last season.

“Coming in as a second-year player, I’m a lot more confident and feel I can do more things with the puck,” Gaudreau said from Boston on Tuesday. “It’s a lot of things coming together.”

For him — and for the Flames

Not only is the Flames organization excited to see Gaudreau receiving attention, the club’s brass are over the moon a couple of other players were invited.

Sieloff, who is a physical force for the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires, spent two years with the U.S. national development team, so his inclusion is no shock.

Gillies is a pleasant surprise.

“The kid deserves a lot of credit,” Weisbrod said. “He had a hard summer of work and preparation, was thrown right into the deep end as a freshman starting goaltender in one of the best conferences in the country and (has) done really well. I’m happy for him and proud of him.”

Gillies has a sparkling 1.88 goals-against average and .930 save percentage to go with a 7-6-1 record at Providence College.

The Flames have six players in total who could potentially play in the upcoming event.

Flames trio gets invite to U.S. world junior camp

Scoring an invite to the U.S. national junior team’s camp is nothing new to Johnny Gaudreau.

It’s the next step that the Calgary Flames prospect is looking to make.

Gaudreau, one of three Flames hopefuls chosen to attend this year’s camp, was a late cut from last year’s squad. So it’s hard to believe he won’t be part of the American team to go to world juniors later this month in Ufa, Russia.

“I thought it was a little bit of farce he didn’t make last year’s team, particularly when I saw the team,” said Flames assistant GM of player personnel Jonn Weisbrod. “I couldn’t believe they kept him off it."